The brothers who made the shirts worn by drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán during his meeting with Hollywood actor Sean Penn have seen sales skyrocket.

Sam and Shawn Esteghbal, Jewish Iranians who live in Los Angeles, co-own Barabas, the store which sells the $128 (£89) tops favoured by the Mexican billionaire criminal.

News outlets all over the world shared a photo of Guzmán wearing one of their silver-and-blue designs - called “Fantasy” - while shaking Academy Award winner Sean Penn’s hand during their interview for Rolling Stone, published two days after the drug lord was arrested.

And in the video of their meeting, Guzmán is wearing another of the brothers’ shirts, a black-and-blue shirt they call “Crazy Paisley”.

Shawn Esteghbal did not hesitate when he saw the news, putting the “Fantasy” top, front and centre on his website above the words “MOST WANTED SHIRT”.

It worked, with the co-owner watching as customers flocked to buy the designs, placing both shirts on backorder for weeks.

Speaking to CNN, he said their website had crashed twice in the last week, adding: "Right now, it's crazy. We cannot keep them in stock, and we have a lot of demand from all over.”

Mr Esteghbal said that when he saw the shirt trending on social media, he thought: “my God, I even know the style number by heart.”

His brother Sam explained that the shirt had become popular because “people just always look for something unique, and they're probably thinking this is unique because that guy wears it.

“He could wear a $10,000 shirt or a $3,000 shirt, but he wears Barabas.”